PREP BASEBALL: Pfennigs, Post Falls stop Lewiston
• 5A REGION 1
LEWISTON — Hitting in the clutch had been lacking from the Post Falls Trojans’ repertoire for most of this season.
Until the fifth inning on Monday.
Trailing 4-2 after four, Post Falls tallied eight runs in the top of the fifth, and the No. 4 seed Trojans went on to dump the No. 1 seed Lewiston Bengals 10-4 in the first round of the 5A Region 1 baseball tournament at Church Field.
“Their pitcher started off keeping us off balance,” Post Falls coach Dustin Frank said. “That was our second and third time through the order. We just started seeing the ball better, laying off his off-speed pitches. It was clutch hit after clutch hit after clutch hit, and that was something we’d been missing all season.”
Post Falls (13-12) will play at No. 2 seed Lake City (15-8) in the championship game today at 4 p.m. for a trip to state. Lake City defeated No. 3 Coeur d’Alene 4-3 on Monday. Coeur d’Alene (15-9) plays at Lewiston (19-5) today at 4 in a loser-out game.
Chaz Bailey tied the game at 4 with a two-run single. Dusty Weeks’ RBI single put Post Falls ahead for good, Sam Schulze added a two-run single, Preston Benson a run-scoring triple, and Nate Buer an RBI single.
Buer finished 3 for 4, including an RBI single in the fourth to tie the game at 2.
“Defensively we gave them their first two runs; their first two runs were unearned,” Frank said. “We did a really good job finishing the game.”
Jake Pfennigs, facing Lewiston for the first time all season, scattered eight hits and struck out seven.
“He got a lot of ground balls,” Frank said. “Jake did a really good job not letting them string a bunch of stuff together.”
Lake City took 3 of 4 from Post Falls during 5A Inland Empire League play.
“We knew going in our league was going to be tough,” Frank said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the 1 seed, the 2 seed, the 3 seed or the 4 seed, I think any team can beat anybody on any given day.”
Post Falls 001 180 0 — 10 10 2
Lewiston 011 200 0 — 4 8 0
Jake Pfennigs and Buer; Washburn, Way (5), Stottlemyre (6) and Grijalva. W — Pfennigs. L — Washburn.
HITS: PF — Benson 2, Buer 3, Bailey, Lebsock 2, Weeks, Schulze. Lew — Light 2, Way 3, Phillips, Washburn, Olson. 3B — Benson.
Lake City 4
Coeur d’Alene 3
COEUR d’ALENE — Dominic Conigliaro of the host Timberwolves beat the Vikings for the third time in three tries this season.
“He’s a rock,” Lake City coach Paul Manzardo said. “He got into some trouble; he bent, but he never broke. He’s been doing that all year.”
Coeur d’Alene (15-9) took a 3-0 lead in the second on Reegan Jacobson’s two-run single.
Lake City (15-8) got two back in the bottom of the inning on Nathan Phillips’ RBI single, followed by an RBI fielder’s choice
In the third, Lake City tied it on a fielder’s choice by Conigliaro. Then, with the bases loaded and Bennett Cunningham running for Conigliaro, Cunningham took off for second, the throw bounced on a Viking infielder’s glove and Kyle Manzardo scored from third with the go-ahead run.
“I just thought it was a well-played game,” Paul Manzardo said. “Jackson Sumner (of Coeur d’Alene) pitched a very good game, kept our hitters off balance. There’s so much parity in our league, so even if you’re the 1 seed, the No. 4 team can knock you off. Post Falls is a good team; we’re going to have to stay focused. It rained all day; big thumbs up to Cody Garza and Travis Georgius for getting that field playable for us.”
Coeur d’Alene 030 000 0 — 3 6 1
Lake City 022 000 x — 4 5 2
Jackson Sumner and Jacobson; Dominic Conigliaro and Grant Wade. W — Conigliaro. L — Sumner.
HITS: Cd’A — Plum, T. Luckey 2, Langley, Toepke, Jacobson. LC — Hall, Criswell 2, Phillips, Reed.
• 3A DISTRICT 1
Timberlake 11
Kellogg 0
BONNERS FERRY — Ty George hit a two-run double to highlight a nine-run third inning, and the Tigers made quick work of the Wildcats in the first round of the 3A District 1 tourney at Bonners Ferry High.
Derek Galloway scattered three hits and struck out four in the five-inning shutout for Timberlake (10-12). He also scored the first run of the game, on a single by Seth Villanpando.
“Derek Galloway had a great day on the mound,” Timberlake coach Matt George said. “Galloway was hitting spots on all his pitches today. He never let Kellogg get any sort of rhythm. He competed well and deserved the shutout. When our pitchers are throwing well, our offense knows it can settle in and do what we do best.
Timberlake had just four hits, but Kellogg walked seven batters.
“Our offense made the Kellogg pitchers pay for free passes by moving those guys around the bases,” George said.
Timberlake will play at top-seeded Bonners Ferry today at 4 p.m. in the district title game.
Kellogg 000 00 — 0 3 2
Timberlake 119 0x — 11 4 2
Game called after 5 innings due to 10-run rule.
T. Muller, K. Silva (3) and name unavailable; Derek Galloway and Seth Villanpando. W — Galloway. L — Muller.
HITS: Kell — Stott, Jeffries, Muller. TL — Wells, Villanpando, George, Tonkin. 2B — George.
Bonners Ferry 3
Priest River 2
BONNERS FERRY — Caleb Gering hit a two-out, walkoff single to score Brady Bateman in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Badgers past the Spartans in a semifinal of the District 1 tournament.
With the win, Bonners Ferry advances to the district championship today against Timberlake at 4 p.m. in Bonners Ferry.
Gering went 3-for-4, and Bonners Ferry starter Jesse Dunham struck out nine. The Spartans left 15 runners on base.
Priest River 000 200 0 — 2 7 1
Bonners Ferry 200 000 1 — 3 7 4
2 out when winning run scored.
Fitzmorris, Simpkins (5) and Campbell; Dunham, Bateman (5) and Gray. W — Bateman. L — Simpkins.
HITS: PR — Fitzmorris, Pettit, Simpkins, Campbell 2, Jeter 2. BF — Br. Bateman 2, Gering 3, Blackmore, Ch. Sabin. 2B — Bateman.
• 2A DISTRICT 1-2
Monday’s games in Orofino were rained out, and rescheduled for today. St. Maries is scheduled to play Grangeville at 1 p.m., followed by Orofino vs. the St. Maries-Grangeville loser at 3, followed by St. Maries-Grangeville winner vs. TBA at 5.